THE Australian Medical Association (AMA) recently issued a new report calling for a sugar tax on sugary drinks to tackle chronic disease and to make Australia a healthier country.
AMA president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said, “More than 2.4B litres of sugary drinks are consumed every year in Australia. That’s enough to fill 960 Olympic sized swimming pools,” Dr Khorshid said.
The tax would ideally raise the retail price of the average supermarket sugary drink by 20 percent.
“It could save lives, and save millions of dollars in healthcare costs,” Dr Khorshid said.
Sugar in excess is a major contributor to illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and heart failure. Shepparton residents in particular are particularly prone to heart related diseases.
Data shows the rate of hospitalisations for heart attack and coronary heart disease are 70 percent higher in the Shepparton region than the state’s lowest region, Melbourne’s inner east. That’s a rate of 17.4 per 10,000 people for heart attacks and 55.9 per 10,000 people for coronary heart disease.
“Putting a tax on sugary drinks would also generate revenue, we estimate about $814M annually, which we believe could be spent on other preventative activities,” said Dr Khorshid.
